A King's Legacy Ch. 47

"No..." Aster weakly uttered out, still pressing on towards his lover in rejection of such a blatant and foul joke. He couldn't lose Stahl. Not after they finally seemed to gain some ground in their fight. Not after they FINALLY had some sample of a victory. The human continued through heavy tears, begging all within earshot. "Please.... Just tell me what I must do to save him? What must I give to just--"

"There is nothing I can do." Death reluctantly answered, cursing his honesty as he continued, "He has no body to return to. I cannot create such life nor a form, only barter with what is established. I can only use what I have obtained through my deals, and keeping Cortist alive exhausted all the borrowed time I had accumulated. I cannot give him a body from nothing, and without one to anchor his soul, he will surely fall."

Aster screamed out in protest, refuting that statement with every piece of his crumbling heart. "NO! I WON'T LOSE HIM! I CAN'T DO ANY OF THIS WITHOUT HIM! I- I am nothing without him by my side...." Aster just couldn't keep moving, no matter how badly he wanted to reach his wolf, to refuse to let him go, he just didn't think he could make it to him.

"Oh, my mate...." Stahl had walked to his king, stoically closing the distance for their goodbye when Aster was unable to. The beast knelt before his lover, greedily pulling the boy in for one last embrace as he selflessly and forcefully stifled his own tears of farewell.... "I thought you didn't lie to me, Aster"

The human king turned his tear-stricken eyes towards his wolf. Aster's gaze was one of pure turmoil, accented heavily by the most terribly gutting despair the beast had ever seen. Stahl understood, he would miss his king so dearly as well, but the knight had a duty to uphold, even here.... Especially here.

"You were always something unique to this world, and you'll still shine just as brightly for those that need it when I'm not there anymore. You'll find happiness again, my king. You will find someone that can love and deserve you far more than a ragged mutt like me ever did. You never needed me to be the wonder that you are. You didn't need my help to change this world, nor to change the hearts you touched along the way. You don't need me to live, and I don't need you to die. I would hope we have both learned our lessons about where dying for each other lands us, so how about you live for me this time instead? Can you please promise me that, my mate?"

"No.... I don't want to keep fighting without you. I would rather stay here with you. We can just rest Stahl, we can just hide here and forget the world. If I stay, you won't have to do this alone. We fight together, we can fight this together... please...." Aster was nothing more than a mess of despair by then.

Stahl nuzzled his snout endearingly into his king's neck, his whiskers tickling the flesh dampened with Aster's tears. His voice was warm and sound, expertly masking his worries while he whispered to his mate. "I loved the moments we got to hold each other. I loved how carefree your face always seemed when I could hold you in my arms and we would bask in one another's warmth...."

Stahl exhaled slowly, barely keeping his voice from shattering his façade when he finished imparting his comforts. "But as peaceful as resting is, you have to keep fighting, even if I can no longer fight by your side. You keep fighting, my mate, you keep fighting because you can, because of those that cannot fight anymore. Surrender never suited you, my king."

Aster said nothing else, he would make no such promises. He would just keep holding on, begging to simply stay before ever wanting to return to the world awaiting him, one that would surely be so cold without the wolf there to warm it.

Calium was watching from a short distance away, the light enveloping him the same as his son. He would fade just before his son would, returning to take command of the darkness hidden within the younger king the moment their link was restored alongside the shield bearer's own life. Calium's soul would return to rejoin the sword demon soon, and with it, his freedom from Death's command would end as well. Despite knowing this, the fallen king turned his gaze, devoid of all gold, towards the panther. His brown eyes locked with Jagón's darker ones just before the fallen king's spirit vanished from that place. With a final motion towards the river, Calium subtly hinted that the panther's attention should be directed elsewhere.

The beast watched the human king fade before following his direction, turning to peer towards the far side of that river. A light suddenly reflected in the general's eyes as they focused on someone standing just on the other side of the bank, staring fondly back at him with her hands clasped in front of herself.

Felicity always was a beauty to behold. It would seem that fact held even more true when viewed through the eyes of the knight that so longed for a glimpse of her again.

She bore a soft look, one that radiated her wishes until they clearly resonated with her knight. Without saying a single word, with only the softest smile and a delicate motion, Felicity turned from her husband, stepping back away from the river and into the obscurity of the other side. Her intentions were impossible to misread. Jagón was still needed by his cubs.... She could wait a little longer.

The general turned back to his son just as the light enveloped Aster's spirit entirely. Jagón watched remorsefully as the human was forcefully torn from the embrace of his wolf. Aster would have rather died before letting go of his love, something Jagón understood all to well.

The fading pleas of his son were all that was needed to harden the panther's resolve.... A king needed his knight, after all.... Jagón's voice was firm and decisive as he quietly called out on the winds of the Afterworld. "So... I hear you're fond of making deals...."

==

Cortist watched helplessly as the shadowy demon's features began to shift, creak, and regrow in the absence of the incredible blaze. The creature stood, preparing to resume pursuing its meal with renewed hunger. It made it roughly three steps with the sword and shield both at the ready before its pace slowed. The entire being began to tremble in place before stopping altogether.

Cortist wondered what could have finally swayed it, but was thankful regardless, as he didn't have the strength to handle this monster anymore. Cortist's answer came sooner than he had expected.

Like melting ice breaking apart in the morning sun, a smaller chunk of the shadowy corruption suddenly fell away from the shield, allowing a golden light to abruptly pierce the darkness once more. The creature looked towards the vandalized bloodskill, and snarled at the development. Perhaps it knew time was running out. The abomination began to rapidly charge at the young mage once again, the shield losing more and more of the corruption as the demon desperately tried to reach Cortist while it had some time left.

The panther could only watch as the monster closed the gap between them, its red eyes frantic to have the smallest taste before it diminished. It raised that shadowy sword high above itself as it prepared for the finishing blow, mere steps away from Cortist. With an act of finality, the sword was brought down a final time.

The weapon disappeared instantly just before it connected with the mage.

Despite everything, Cortist flashed a sudden smile. The panther spoke quietly through his fatigue as he gazed upon the shield. "I knew you could do it, little brother."

Fissures formed rapidly over the defiled shield, splintering through the shadowy armor covering the weapon with a sound akin to shattering glass as more corruption steadily fell from the celestial barricade. With both a ringing sound steadily growing in pitch, and a final burst of light, a pulse of glittering, golden warmth suddenly rocked forth from the shield, shooting fissures into the demon's body as it shed away the last of the corruption recently encasing it.

The shield blinked away, no longer heeding the calls of such a monster. The demon grasped vainly at the heavy fissure the golden pulse had left in its stony body, desperate not to fade, fighting to stay 'alive' at any cost. It let out a final screech before its very body began to slowly break down. It stared at Cortist with such sorrow behind its wispy eyes as they slowly began to fade back into darkness. It cried weakly in the end, its flesh fizzling as it began to dissipate into tufts of smoke while crumbling along the edges.

The left arm of the monster fell off entirely as its knees buckled, dropping the rest of the creature nearly face-to-face with Cortist. The panther gazed in awe, and admittedly, a twinge of remorse. He could just sense something sad inside of that husk, something that wasn't Aster, but still felt like his brother all the same. That thought was whisked away from Cortist as those red eyes faded entirely to dark sockets. A particularly fleshy and limp arm fell through the center of that demon's crumbling remains after.

"ASTER!" Cortist was yelling the name immediately, reaching up and tugging on the arm in desperation to save his sibling at last, hoping that it was all finally over. The rest of the mage's little brother came crashing through that shell, right into the waiting embrace of his self-proclaimed, (yet undeniably) expert big brother, Cortist Venatus.

The Panther hugged his unconscious brother so very tightly for a moment before he acknowledged his own limits and accepted that he couldn't stay awake much longer. The panther had to half drag his sibling along with him, but before too long, Cortist was sitting with his back against one of the well-charred marble pillars in the entry hall. Aster was leaning snugly against the mage's side as the brothers both fell into the deepest sleep that either would have for some time to come. Cortist purred a final, soft reassurance down to the human as he let his exhaustion take him with gratitude.

"Welcome home, little brother."

Stahl could only smile warmly when he found them like that. It was good to see them reunited, despite what else had transpired in the short time since....

==

Well.... This is surreal. Sure, there's one more chapter coming to close out a few things, and a short epilogue after, but this was the end of the climax scenes. This is essentially the end of the journey for this first book.

If you were ever going to pick a place to leave your final thoughts for me to carry into the edit, this chapter or the next would be the places to do it.

I know I have a long road of editing and preparing this story ahead of me, but I think so much of what I plan to touch up will fix most of the issues I did find on reflection. I really do want to thank every single person reading this for reading this! Your support and encouragement has helped me persevere through the end, and I mean that!

From the trolls that leave 1 star reviews every chapter due to being either a gay or furry story, to those that tried to blackmail me in real life me for even writing stories like this.... I've faced a lot of things that made me want to give up. It's been a year and a half of devoting the majority of my home and free time to this project. To say it has never been stressful while still working full time jobs and balancing my time with my husband would be a lie, but the satisfaction I feel now is nothing short of humbling.

I truly look forward to sharing the closing chapter with y'all soon, and I hope you'll eventually venture to enjoy the polished version after! Thank you for discovering new worlds with me.

With all the appreciation, love, and peace fathomable, from the depths of my own soul, and by the very gods.... Thank you for reading my story.

(Officially)

-Author Red Bayou